


That's Not Arthur

by justaCamelotcitizen



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: :), Arthur Is Merlin, Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Arthur Knows About Morgana's Magic (Merlin), Arthur Pendragon Has Magic (Merlin), Awesome Leon (Merlin), Bodyswap, F/M, Good Morgana (Merlin), Gwen Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), I Will Annoy You With My Tags, Kilgharrah Ships Merlin/Arthur (Merlin), M/M, Merlin Does Not Have Magic, Merlin is Arthur, Merlin's Magic Revealed (Merlin), Morgana Knows about Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Morgana's Magic Revealed (Merlin), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags Are Fun, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change, Uther Finds Out About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), that's a lot of tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29181357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justaCamelotcitizen/pseuds/justaCamelotcitizen
Summary: “You are accused of sorcery. By the laws of Camelot, I hereby sentence you to death,” the king’s voice was cold, and quite frankly, bored, as he sentenced yet another sorcerer to die by the pyre......“He’s not really Merlin, he doesn’t really have magic! If you kill him you’ll make a huge mistake!”......The crown prince of Camelot would be burned at the pyre by his own father. For conjuring harmless butterflies. By accident. And no one would ever even know that Arthur would really be dead...
Relationships: Balinor & Kilgharrah (Merlin), Balinor & Merlin (Merlin), Balinor/Hunith (Merlin), Gwaine & Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Gwen & Knights of the Round Table (Merlin), Gwen & Merlin & Morgana & Arthur Pendragon, Gwen & Merlin & Morgana (Merlin), Gwen/Lancelot (Merlin), Hunith & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Hunith & Knights of the Round Table (Merlin), Hunith & Merlin (Merlin), Kilgharrah & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Kilgharrah & Merlin (Merlin), Knights of the Round Table & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Knights of the Round Table & Merlin (Merlin), Lancelot & Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Leon/Morgana (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Morgana & Knights of the Round Table (Merlin)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	1. You Are Accused Of Sorcery

“You are accused of sorcery. By the laws of Camelot, I hereby sentence you to death,” the king’s voice was cold, and quite frankly, bored, as he sentenced yet another sorcerer to die by the pyre.

“No! Please, you can’t!” a panicked voice was heard from the king’s right side. “Arthur, you will stay out of this,” the king sternly replied without so much as a speck of sympathy. Arthur was facing his father, standing in front of the raven-haired servant who was shackled and kneeling on the cold stone floor.

“Please! You don’t understand!” the prince begged, staring into his father’s cold eyes that weren’t even looking at his son who was on the verge of tears at the moment. The king sighed, exasperated, cutting off whatever it was the prince was about to say next. “Oh please, enlighten me,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“He’s not really Merlin, he doesn’t really have magic! If you kill him you’ll make a huge mistake!” Arthur rambled on as if his life depended on it. Which it technically did. See, Arthur wasn’t really Arthur. Merlin was Arthur, and had quite accidentally used magic he didn’t know he had. And Arthur was Merlin, who was quite literally panicking, because Arthur was going to be burned at the pyre. By his own father. Because of the magic that he didn’t even have, not really. And no one even knew it was really Arthur, except for Merlin, who was currently Arthur.

“Enough! Guards, take the sorcerer to the dungeons. And Arthur, go to your chambers and do not even think about going to the dungeons before the sorcerer is burned,” the ruthless king Uther commanded and left, leaving no room for Arthur to argue any longer, as the prince was currently being shown to his own chambers by the knights. “Please!!!” he yelled after his father but the king didn’t seem to even notice, as he rounded the corner and disappeared from view.

\-----

Arthur was currently being held prisoner in his own chambers, until the sorcerer, Merlin, or technically Arthur, had been burned. He was pacing around, frustrated that no one seemed to believe his story. At the same time, he was also trying, and failing, to figure out how exactly Merlin and Arthur had managed to swap bodies with each other.

There hadn’t been any sorcerers in Camelot, not that anyone knew anyway, and Merlin hadn’t done any spells before two days ago, so it wasn’t his fault for casting a wrong spell or anything. So how is it that the two woke up this morning in the other man’s body?

The prince looked out the window, it was still morning. The two hadn’t even seen each other yet today before Arthur had accidentally used Merlin’s magic and had been taken to the council chambers where the king had currently been in a meeting. The knights themselves had apparently seen Merlin use magic, in the middle of a hallway. Apparently his eyes had been glowing gold and magical blue butterflies had appeared everywhere from thin air as he was walking down the corridors towards the prince's chambers. That just added to how ridiculous this situation was. The crown prince of Camelot would be burned at the pyre by his own father. For conjuring harmless butterflies. By accident. And no one would ever even know that Arthur would really be dead.

Arthur, who was currently still Merlin, stopped his pacing to hit his head on the wall multiple times out of frustration. “Arrghh!” to say he was frustrated would in fact be quite an understatement, for he was outright going mad. “What to do? What do I do? What is there to do? What on earth can anyone do?” he was muttering to himself, just before there was a knock on the door.

The door opened and Morgana came to view. She carefully came inside, and after spotting Arthur by the left side wall, she closed the door behind her. “Arthur?” her voice was uncertain, and ever so kind. “What did you mean Merlin isn’t really Merlin?” she asked after the few seconds which had passed in silence. She was looking at Arthur curiously, as if though Arthur wasn’t really Arthur. Which he in fact wasn’t.

The prince swallowed, took a deep breath and opened his mouth. “I’m Merlin. The Merlin down in the dungeons is actually Arthur,” he said whilst looking Morgana straight in the eyes, the green eyes which now widened in realisation, in shock, in utter horror. “ I don’t know how it happened but when I woke up today, I was in Arthur’s body, and I can only assume that Arthur is now in mine,” he continued, voice slightly shaking, because he  _ was _ still panicking. At least Morgana now seemed to believe his story.

“What are we going to do?” she asked, just barely not panicking herself. Not yet anyway. “I don’t know,” he replied. He walked to Arthur’s bed and sat down, giving a tired sigh. “Well you can’t just give up!” Morgana almost yelled, following him to stand in front of him next to the bed. “I’m not! Just let me think, there has to be something I can do. Maybe I could find a spell to return us to our own bodies… But for that I would have to sneak out to Gaius’ chambers somehow- And it wouldn’t even help at all because I don’t think I would be able to use magic as Arthur anyway! Damn it!” he sighed out of his frustration and fell back onto the bed.

“Arrghh!” he covered his face in his hands and sighed for the thousandth time that morning. Morgana looked at him in worry, for both Merlin and Arthur. “Don’t worry, we’ll think of something. I’ll tell Gwen about all this, maybe we can break him out of the dungeons and bring him somewhere safe, that’ll by us some more time-”

“It’s dangerous, if you get caught-”

“We won’t. It’s not like we’ve never broken anyone out of the dungeons before…” Morgana never finished that sentence, she just looked hopefully at the man who looked like Arthur. He sighed, again. “Fine. But be careful. I don’t know what I’ll do if I hear that you two have been arrested as well,” he finally replied, sitting up on the prince’s bed once more. “Of course, don’t worry, we’ll be careful,” She told him, as surely as she could.

\-----

Merlin, well Arthur actually, was sitting in the dungeons. The ground was cold, though there was some hay to warm it up if only just a little.

On the way there, he’d tried to tell the guards that he was actually prince Arthur. The guards had only laughed and replied something like, “Yeah sure, and I’m the king.”

He’d been silent the rest of the day, just sitting with his back against the wall, hugging his knees and burying his face in his arms to hide the tears leaking from his unusually dark blue eyes. There was a small window above his head that led to the courtyard, though it did not provide much light to the damp dungeon that was basically underground.

The evening was nearing when he heard someone coughing, then it sounded as though someone fell to the ground, someone with armor which crashed loudly against the hard ground. He got up and walked to the bars of the cell to see what was going on. Soon enough Morgana came from around the corner with keys jangling on her grasp. She opened the door and let him out of the dungeon. If the small window had ever provided any light, it certainly didn’t anymore, and the only light came from the few torches placed on the walls.

“What are you doing?” he asked, though he couldn’t be happier that he would not perhaps die tomorrow morning after all. Though, if they now got caught he would most likely die this evening instead.

“Merlin explained everything, I know you’re actually Arthur. Gwen is waiting for us at the beginning of the darkling woods, she’s got a horse and enough supplies for you to survive a few days in the woods. We were thinking it best if you went to Ealdor to Merlin’s mother for a while, while we’ll figure out how to fix things, she would surely let you stay there for as long as necessary,” Morgana hurriedly explained while they sneaked past the unconscious guards. Arthur didn’t know what to say, so he just went with, “Thank you.” Morgana smiled at him, knowing he meant it.

“I honestly wasn’t sure anyone would come and help me, but I’m grateful you did,” He told her, tears still in his eyes, though they weren’t falling anymore.

Arthur had feared Merlin had betrayed him. Reasonable when you wake up in someone else's body, who apparently has magic, and obviously quite powerful too, that tends to go out of control at times. And now that someone was in  _ his  _ body, it would be quite easy for him to just take over his life as the crown prince of Camelot. Not to mention that they’d known each other for over a year, Arthur had thought they were friends, and yet Merlin never bothered to tell him about his magic. Then again, when Arthur thought about it now, what had he ever done to make Merlin think he could share this secret with Arthur? He’d called magic evil, pure evil. He’d claimed that sorcerers were all evil, even though he’d always had his doubts about whether his father was actually correct in that matter. Arthur shortly came to the conclusion that Merlin wasn’t to blame, he would give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, Merlin had just technically saved him from the pyre, even if it was Morgana who did all the actual work. And Gwen of course.

When he finally got out of these troubling thoughts, they were already out of the citadel and heading for the woods. Arthur didn’t even notice when they left the citadel, being so deep in his thoughts, and couldn’t help but wonder how easy it had been. Just then the warning bell sounded loudly through the entire city. The guards must have woken up and found the empty cell. Luckily they were already far enough now not to get caught.

They entered the forest surrounding Camelot, and soon enough they found Gwen. Well, Gwen found them. She’d appeared from behind them, unbelievably quiet, and startled them both. And when Morgana would later tell Merlin how Arthur had jumped and screamed like a girl, it would not be a lie. Not that Arthur wouldn’t deny it as strongly as possible, or simply blame it on, “I was currently in Merlin’s body, that must be the reason. His girlish behaviour just somehow rubbed in on me.” Which of course would not be very accurate, or believable.

\-----

The next day, Merlin had heard from Morgana that Arthur was safely traveling to Ealdor. The king was mad about the sorcerer's escape, but luckily believed after a lot of convincing, that he had escaped alone. After all, the guards had confirmed that Arthur had been in his chambers the entire time. And who else would’ve dared risk their life to save one sorcerer of a servant?

Only five people knew that Arthur hadn’t in fact been in his chambers at the time, nor had he been there for two nights, but instead he was on his way to Ealdor at the very moment. Merlin had told Gaius everything the first chance he got, and Gaius was now looking for spells, potions, anything to swap their bodies back to how they belonged.

And why wasn’t Merlin helping? Well, people now thought he was Arthur, he would have to do his princely duties. The first problem in that, he realised, would be training the knights. He could barely wield a sword himself, never mind to train the knights, or anyone really.

Other than that, he had everything under control. For the first time ever, he was actually glad to have been the prat’s manservant, now he at least knew enough to act like Arthur, in almost every situation. Almost…

\-----

Merlin was walking down the corridors, searching for Leon. He was the first knight of Camelot, surely it wouldn’t be too suspicious if Arthur suddenly gave him the responsibility of training the knights of Camelot.

He finally found Leon out on the courtyard, with all the other knights, waiting for training to start. While he walked up to the others, he received confused glances from them, since he wasn’t in his chainmail ready to fight, but in a regular red tunic instead.

“Leon,” he called the knight over, trying to impersonate Arthur’s commanding tone and hand gestures as best he could. “Sire, where have you been? We were supposed to start training half an hour ago,” the tall knight with blond curly hair asked in concern, yet somehow still sounding professional, like he always did. “Yes, of course. I apologize for my late appearance. I would like you to take over the training for some time, perhaps for a week or so,” he answered, as nonchalant as possible. Leon however seemed more confused than ever. “Is everything alright, My Lord?”

“Yes, everything’s fine,” There was a pause as Merlin tried to come up with an excuse for his earlier decision. Honestly though, why didn’t he do that before he came down here? Perhaps Arthur was right, he  _ was _ a bit of an idiot. Though he would never tell  _ him _ that, he would never hear the end of it.

“Since my manservant was accused of sorcery, I haven’t yet gotten a new one. I now have to do everything by myself for now, and it takes a lot of my time and it would simply help if you could take over the training for now,” he explained just when the silence was starting to stretch to an uncomfortable one.  _ ‘There we go! That wasn’t so hard now was it?’  _ he thought to himself.

Leon simply nodded and replied, “Yes, of course.” Then he left to go train the knights, leaving Merlin standing there. He sighed in relief, and after a few seconds of waiting for his heartbeat to slow down, he turned around and left for what were his chambers for now. He had a council meeting to attend to later and he could surely practice at least that before he walked into yet another awkward situation unprepared.

\-----

Arthur was making camp near the border between Camelot and Essetir. He’d rode on a horse the entire night following his escape, running away from his own knights, ridiculous. He was struggling to start a fire. He was a prince, he’d always had someone do that for him. But now, he was all alone, he was cold, he was exhausted, hungry, and he couldn’t manage to get any kind of a fire going. Then, a thought dawned on him. Why was he here again? Oh yes, because he had used magic. And by accident nonetheless. He could use magic to start the fire. Probably. Maybe if he concentrated really hard.

He laughed at himself. Here he was, the prince of Camelot, Uther Pendragon’s son, trying to use  _ magic _ . He’d grown up, never hearing anything else but ‘Magic is evil, it corrupts people. Anyone who dares use the evil force that is sorcery must be burned!’ and here he was, desperate enough to abandon everything his father had ever taught him about magic just to start a freakin’ fire.

Arthur looked into the pile of wood he’d gathered, and after some consideration, he raised his hand towards it.  _ ‘Am I supposed to say something?’  _ he thought. Perhaps, but he of course didn’t know any spells. Perhaps, if he currently wasn’t in the body of the most powerful sorcerer ever to walk the earth, he would need to. Now, he didn’t know that, but after looking into the pile of wood in front of him intently, squinting a bit, for a while longer, It actually caught fire. It caught Arthur by surprise and he fell backwards to the ground from where he had been kneeling in front of the, now burning, pile of wood.

“Didn’t think that would actually work. Huh...” he mumbled to himself as he sat down on one of the blankets Gwen had so thoughtfully packed for him. He reached for his pack, searched a bit, and found some food inside a cloth. It contained bread, fruit, berries and just a little bit of cheese that surprisingly enough was still good after spending an entire day in his pack. It wasn’t much, just something that a servant could manage smuggling out of the royal kitchens. And in this situation even the prince prat was grateful for it.

\-----

Arthur had eaten, then he’d slept for a few hours. Now he was on his horse again, nearing Ealdor. The sun had yet to rise and the air was cold and bleak. The prince shuddered from the frigid breeze blowing gently, yet so harshly, almost straight onto his face. Of course the wind couldn’t blow from behind him, no. Of course it had to blow straight onto his face so mercilessly.

After a bit of riding, a comforting glow began to shine through the woods from ahead. The sky was painting itself with the light colours of blue, pink, gold, orange and whatnot, from the magical glow of the sun that was slowly emerging from beyond the horizon. It didn’t really warm the air, not yet, but it brought a warm comfort to what had earlier been a very grim and damp part of the woods.

\-----

When the tiny village of Ealdor finally came to view, the entirety of the sun had risen above the trees. It was early noon when Arthur appeared in the middle of the village. He’d been here once before, he remembered where Hunith’s house was located and he tied up his horse nearby before knocking on the wooden door.

It opened with a creak and revealed a familiar, friendly face. “Merlin!” came Hunith’s excited exclamation as she saw who was standing outside the door. Arthur smiled and chuckled awkwardly. “Not exactly...” he started.

\-----

Hunith was pacing in her kitchen, Arthur sitting on a chair by the kitchen table looking at her in worry. “Hunith, calm down, please,” he gently requested. She turned to look at him then and stopped in her tracks. “I understand your worry, believe me I do. But if you’re worried about the magic thing, I’m not going to harm your son in any way. And not just because I’m currently in his body,” he muttered the last part, lowering his gaze to the table in front of him, showing unnatural interest in the white candle sitting on the table, fidgeting with it in his uncomfortableness at the moment.

Hunith sat down opposite from Arthur, her eyes still filled with that caring worry a mother would have for her child. Arthur’s eyes moved from the candle to look up at Hunith, giving her a reassuring smile and nod. That seemed to calm her down a bit, as she sighed and relaxed visibly in her chair.

“So…” Arthur began with uncertainty, pausing for a few seconds before asking, “Is there any way I could stay here until Merlin’s found a way to fix things?” He smiled uncomfortably, biting his lip, just a bit weirded out by the situation at hand. But then Hunith smiled and told him, “Of course! I’d be happy to have you here.” Arthur gave a relieved little laugh and smiled, until Hunith continued what she was saying. “And besides, I would really love some help with all the hard work around here,” she smiled kindly. Her tone wasn’t commanding, it was more like a request of ‘Would you please help with the work, if it’s not too much trouble?’ And though Arthur hated work and didn’t know the first thing of how to work on a farm, he would of course help as best he could.

\-----

“Gaius?” Arthur’s voice rang through the physician’s chambers as Merlin walked in. The place was a mess. Books were piled in every corner, on every table, on chairs, and in the middle of the floor, half of them left open. Merlin looked around, picked up one book and inspected it curiously. It was a book about potions. Not magical ones, just potions. Most of all the magic books had been destroyed by the king after all.

“Merlin! In here!” a woman’s voice came from behind one massive pile of books. He walked around it and found Gwen sitting on the floor, a book open in her hands. She was wearing her purple dress, her hair tied up in a bun atop her head. She gave Merlin a sweet, though tired, smile.

It had been over a week now, and they’d found nothing. They’d nearly gone through all the books in the entirety of Camelot.

“Gaius is in the library with Morgana. They’re looking through the last of the books there,” Gwen told him and then pointed to the small pile of books on her right. “These are the last books over here that we haven’t looked through just yet,” she gave another small smile.

On one hand, she was happy that all of this exhausting research would soon be at its end. But on the other hand though, it also meant there was little chance of finding the solution to their ‘ _ little’ _ dilemma in the few remaining books.

On one day, Morgana and Gwen had sat Merlin down and they’d asked him all about his magic and everything he’d done with it. First Merlin had been uncomfortable and unsure, but when he’d realised that it wasn’t in fact an interrogation, but they had just been curious, he’d relaxed and told the two people, who he realised were still his friends even after all that had happened, all kinds of stuff about magic he could think of.

Then they’d laughed about how blind their king was. He couldn’t even see that his son wasn’t actually his son, or that the person he thinks is his son, his ward and her maid, and his trusted physician, were practically commiting treason right under his nose. The law they were breaking might have been the most unjust and unreasonable, most ridiculous one of them all, but it was treason nonetheless.

Not to mention what his actual son had been up to lately.

Back in Ealdor Arthur was currently trying to will his spoon to come alive with magic. “Why won’t you do as I tell you to, damn you…!” Arthur stared at the spoon in his hands with irritation. “I mean you’d think that if I can create butterflies out of thin air, I would be able to bring one stupid spoon to life as well,” he complained out loud. Hunith chuckled in amusement. She’d watched as Arthur had done magic the entire week he was there. One time he had accidentally lifted a house in the air while trying to lift an apple from the ground. He’d had a lot of explaining to do after that.

It seems that Arthur indeed did not share his father’s views on magic, quite possibly on many other things as well.

“Just eat your food would you, Arthur.” Hunith said to him, still amused. Arthur gave a frustrated sigh but complied anyway. “I just don’t understand how I can do so much without any spells, but when I want my spoon to come alive and feed me my food? No! It doesn’t bloody work!” Hunith had nothing to say to that. She’d never figured out Merlin’s magic either, not that she knew that much about magic in general anyway. “You’ll just have to ask Merlin that when you see him again,” she finally replied.

Now, let us go back to see what was happening in Camelot.

“Did you need something?” Gwen asked Merlin when he hadn’t said anything. He walked up to her and sat down beside one of his best friends. “I have a bit of free time right now so I thought I would come and help. That’s all,” he told her, smiling.

They continued reading through the books together, until Gaius and Morgana returned from the library.

Oh yes, I also forgot to mention how Morgana had found out about her magic. Oh well…

They had been in her chambers one evening, her and Gwen, When she had been angry about who knows what. It consisted of something about Uther being unfair and the kingdom being much better off with him dead. You know, the normal stuff you worry about on a tuesday. At one point she had gotten so angry that when she was looking into her mirror, it broke with a loud shatter, the glass shards falling on the floor, clattering about. Gwen had startled and jumped back with a squeak. But Morgana had been outright terrified, as it was so convenient that she had been looking into her mirror at the time, so she'd seen her own eyes glow gold.

Luckily she knew about someone with magic. Who was it again? Oh yes, it was Merlin, how could I forget.

So she'd told him about her magic then. And Merlin, the sweetheart that he is, had promised to help her in any way he could. “You've already helped me so much, what with all the research and everything, the _very_ least I can do is help you with your magic,” he'd said to her. And that's exactly what he did.

\-----

The sun had set, leaving the small village of Ealdor to be cast in the darkness of the night. The sky was clear and the stars were clearly visible against the nearly black canvas above Arthur as he walked, bathing in moonlight, towards the town’s well to bring some water into his and Hunith’s home.

Arthur had been working on the fields all day with all the other villagers, never getting a break. He was exhausted, and sweaty. He missed the bathtub back in Camelot. He missed how easy it used to be to wash. He missed how Merlin used to do everything for him. He missed training with his knights. He missed his friends. He missed his- Well, he actually hadn’t missed his father much.

He’d never been away from Camelot, from his father, for this long ever before. He’d never had the chance to really miss many things before, to miss his home. Though the more he thought about it, the more he realised- it wasn’t necessarily Camelot he missed. It was the people. He missed Morgana, Gwen, Gaius,  _ Merlin…  _ He never thought he would miss the clumsy idiot so much, but he missed him the most of all.

\-----

Merlin had once tried asking for Kilgharrah’s help, but even the no good dragon who spoke in never ending riddles didn’t know how to reverse the spell. Well, apparently a true love’s kiss would break any curse or enchantment, but since the spell is a body swap this time, and not a love spell, the kiss would have to be between the two people affected by the spell, and apparently they would both need to love the other. So there was no way it could ever work. Not a chance. Not a single one. Not even almost. Just no.


	2. Arthur, Emrys, Or Perhaps Just Pendragon?

The warning bells sounded through the citadel as Merlin was going about his day. It was a warm and somewhat sunny day and uptil now nothing interesting had happened. Not in weeks in fact, everything had been pretty much boring.

Merlin turned in his tracks and headed for Gaius’ chambers. He ran up the stairs leading to the small wooden door and just burst right through. Gaius was already heading for the door himself and almost ran straight into Merlin who fortunately managed to stop before that happened.

“What’s happening?” he asked worriedly, as if Gaius knew any better. “I don’t know, let us go and find out,” the physician’s voice was sharp, and without leaving Merlin any room to ask any more stupid questions, he walked out the door.

\-----

Apparently they were under attack. Some kind of black knights were heading towards Camelot. There were seven of them, and they were following someone who rode on a beautiful white horse, standing out from the black knights who all rode on black ones.

In the lower town people had started to fall sick, falling unconscious but luckily not dead. It was spreading through the entire town, the sickness, whatever it was. Gaius had never seen anything like it and he had no cure.

Gaius himself found he was starting to get sick. His eyelids were unusually heavy and, had he a pillow, he would’ve gone to sleep already.

But he knew he must stay awake, for the sake of Camelot.

\-----

Merlin ran the stone stairs down as quickly as he could with his tired and clumsy feet, with his vision starting to get a bit blurry. He slapped himself on the cheek so he would better stay awake. Didn’t really work.

He had a torch in his hand as he turned around the corner and appeared at the mouth of the giant cave beneath the castle. He found Kilgharrah there, snoring. Just resting on his rock where he always was, giving Merlin useless riddles and vague answers.

“Not you too,” he whined. But then he looked more closely and realised something.

“Don’t pretend, I know you’re listening,”

“I don’t need to listen to you, Merlin, you always say the same thing,  _ help me _ ,” Kilgharrah replied exasperatedly as he lifted his head to look at the young warlock. “And yet you refuse to give anything in return. Now you will face the consequence of that decision. Camelot’s end is nigh and there’s nothing you can do about it,” The cryptic dragon dramatically stated.

“I know, I promised to free you. And I will,” Merlin desperately tried to get the dragon to listen to him for once. But the dragon just laughed and replied, “I no longer trust your promises.”

“I swear on my mother’s life,” Merlin truly was desperate by now. Then again, looking at their situation, I think it is perfectly reasonable.

“Careful what you say.”

“You have to help me. Please?”

“her life matters more to you than your own. This is an oath I believe you will honor.”

“I will.”

“It is one thing to cast a spell that puts everyone to sleep, the power to maintain it is a very different matter. It will need more than just words to break this enchantment.”

“What do you mean?”

“You must eradicate the source, Merlin.”

“Great. What is that?”

“Not “what”, but who. Such spells need a vessel, a constant living presence to give them strength. The source of this pestilence is the witch, Morgause.”

Merlin sighed. “How do I stop her?”

“That is easy, young warlock. You must kill her.”

\-----

Merlin was back in Gaius’ chambers. The old physician had fallen asleep, his head on his books, quite literally. Merlin didn’t bother trying to wake Gaius up. After all, he already knew what was to be done and he didn’t want to waste any time and risk falling asleep himself. Not that he could’ve done much anyway, without his magic and all.

So Merlin left, having said his goodbyes to Gaius just in case something went wrong, and stalked the castle halls looking for Morgause. He just hoped he would find her before she found him.

\-----

And there she was, with the black knights following her through the corridors. Then suddenly she stopped and turned around. She told the knights to scatter and go find the king and his son, and kill them both.

Merlin was about to go and attack her when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned abruptly and was face to face with Morgana now. “Morgana! Oh thank god, I thought you were one of the knights!” he whispered. “Why are we the only ones awake?” she asked then, looking worriedly around, waiting to be attacked. “I don’t know. Determination?” he chuckled when he said it, but it soon died down as he remembered their situation and it turned into a frown instead. “Maybe your magic is protecting you, at least a bit?” he suggested. “Maybe… But I do feel myself getting sick as well,” she said in a low, worried tone. Merlin just nodded in understanding.

“We have to kill Morgause. She is the vessel for the spell making us sick,” he told Morgana hurriedly. “We’re running out of time. We’re both getting sick while everyone else is already asleep and there are seven immortal knights and one powerful witch searching for me and the king to kill us both,” he was breathing heavily, exhausted from all the talking. Morgana looked at him in worry. “Let’s go then. We have a witch to kill, a kingdom to save,” she said and peeked her head around the corner. When she didn’t see anyone, she walked to the direction of where she’d seen Morgause go last, Merlin following suit.

\-----

They were standing in the throne room, Merlin with a bloody sword in his hand, Morgana with a shocked but relieved expression on her face. Morgause was dead on the floor, while everyone else in and around the castle were starting to wake up. The king, who they’d found asleep in the throne room just in time before Morgause could kill him, was standing up now with confusion written on his old face.

The king looked upon the dead witch, then up to his  _ ‘son’  _ who had killed her. “Well done Arthur,” he said proudly, with an almost fond tone in his voice. For a moment Merlin had forgotten he was actually Arthur now, so it came a bit late when he replied, “Thank you, father.” And even though he’d said that already before, it didn’t stop it from sounding weird in his own ears.

\-----

The knights had fallen due to Morgause’s death, her body had been taken care of, and there would be a feast in the honor of Arthur saving the kingdom. But he had some business to take care of before that.

_ ‘You must steal a sword from the knights of Medhir. Their blades were forged by the old religion. They have the power to break the chains with which Uther Pendragon keeps me prisoner.’ -The Great Dragon _

And so Merlin had stolen one of those swords and was now taking it with him to kilgharrah. He entered the cave once more just to see the giant dragon flying to sit on his rock like always. “The time has come, young warlock,” the riddling dragon told him, to which Merlin replied, “You know, now would really be a good time to stop calling me that. I mean, I don’t even have magic right now.”

“But you are still Merlin, and Merlin is a warlock. Or would you want me to call you “young prince” instead?”

“Why can’t you just call me by my name?” Merlin whined. “Very well,  _ Arthur _ . Or should I call you Emrys then? Or perhaps just  _ Pendragon? _ ”

Merlin looked at the dragon like he’d lost his mind, which I suppose would not be so far stretched since, after all, he had been living in a cave by himself for over twenty years, his only friend being a teenager who asks obvious questions, always whines and asks for help and manages to make incredibly stupid decisions that lead to catastrophies which could all have been avoided if he’d just listened to the cryptic dragon who’d tried to warn him.

Merlin decided to give up on the matter. He took a deep breath, then headed for the steep and narrow stone stairs leading to the bottom of the dark, damp cave. The chains were huge. Just one link was bigger than Arthur’s head, which already said a lot, at least according to Merlin.

The chains were clattering against the rocks as Merlin walked closer and lifted his sword in the air. Then he swung it down and the chain broke with a loud crash. Kilgharrah roared and flew out of his prison, and Merlin couldn’t help but feel like he’d made a huge mistake. It’s not like it would’ve been the first time.

\-----

Camelot was under attack. Again. And yes, you guessed it, it was the dragon attacking this time.

“Why are you doing this? You’re killing innocent people!” Arthur’s voice rang through the air, through the empty, burning courtyard. The lizard just flew away, leaving Merlin with his questions unanswered.

\-----

“Do we have any further idea on how the beast escaped?” the king asked after the prince’s report on the situation at hand. “I regret to say, sire, we don’t,” Leon answered from Merlin’s left. Merlin looked troubled, he knew he should never have let the dragon out. Now he was killing innocent people and Camelot would fall. At least Arthur was safe.

“There must be some way to rid ourselves of this… aberration,” the old king said as he looked out the window to the courtyard. “Gaius?” he looked to his oldest friend and trusted physician for advice. “We need a dragonlord, sire,” he replied after a bit of consideration. Merlin turned to look at him in curiosity from where he was now sitting in a chair in the middle of the room.

“You know very well that’s not an option.”

“Sire, what if… there was indeed one dragonlord left?”

“That’s not possible.”

“But if there was?”

Uther walked towards Gaius with a suspecting expression on his face. “What are you saying?”

“It may just be rumour.”

“Go on.”

I’m not exactly sure, but I think his name is Balinor.”

“Balinor?”

“Where does he live?” Merlin cut in on their conversation. He loved the fact that he was now allowed to do that as people thought he was the prince.

“He was last seen in Cenred’s kingdom. In the border town of Engerd. But that was many years ago,” Gaius replied.

“If this man still exists then it is our duty to find him.”

“Our treaty with Cendred no longer holds. We’re at war. If they discovered you beyond our border they would kill you.”

“I will go alone.”

“No.”

“That way I’ll not be detected.”

“No Arthur, it is too dangerous.”

“More dangerous than staying here? I won’t stand by and watch my men die when I have the chance to save them!”

“I’ve given you my orders.”

“Do not make this a test of wills, father.”

“I’m not talking to you as a father, I’m talking to you as a king!”

“I will ride immediately.” he walked out of the room.

Merlin had watched enough arguments between Arthur and his father to know exactly what to say. He felt weird referring to the knights as his men, but that’s what Arthur always did.

\-----

“Leon?” Morgana approached the knight. She had told him all about the shenanigans happening in Camelot. He also knew about her and Merlin’s magic. No one but Morgana was aware of that though, she felt guilty about not asking permission to tell him, but she trusted Leon. “Morgana,” the blond knight acknowledged her and kissed her when she’d come to a stop in front of him. They’d started courting a while ago, though no one really knew about it just yet.

“Would you go with Merlin, and keep him safe?” she asked, looking to his eyes pleadingly. Leon gave her a smile and replied, “Of course.”

“Thank you. Stay safe, both of you,” she wished him luck and gave him a short and sweet kiss on the lips. Leon nodded, then headed off before Merlin would leave on his own.

\-----

“So? You and Morgana?” Merlin awkwardly stated as he was riding through the woods beside Leon. The knight seemed uncomfortable at the moment. “How long have you two been together?” Merlin asked when Leon hadn’t said anything. “For a while,” he shortly replied. Merlin looked at him with an expression that said, ‘Are you kidding me?’

“Sorry, we just haven’t really talked about it to anyone yet and I’m not really used to people knowing about it,” Leon told him after a short pause. “It’s okay. I feel the same about my magic. The magic that I don’t even have right now,” he muttered the last part, bitterly. He was missing his magic. It was okay at first but now it’s just frustrating, not being able to do anything magical. He’d once complained to Gaius how he was nothing without his magic, that if he can’t use it he might as well die. Well, perhaps that was a bit dramatic, there is more to him than just his magic but it is, or used to be, a part of him so now it felt like a piece of him was missing.


	3. Enter, Thee Handsome Stranger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long but here you go, another chapter. Hope you enjoy!😘

Leon and Merlin hadn’t talked much on their journey. They had rested once for the night and now they were arriving in Ealdor. Why in Ealdor? Well, it was one of the rare things the two  _ had _ talked about. They wanted to see Arthur. Even though technically Leon did  _ see _ Arthur right now when he looked to his left, that’s not really the same thing. They both wanted to know Arthur was safe and well. And if Merlin got to see his mother again, he could hardly complain, it was just a plus.

What they didn’t expect to see though when arriving at Ealdor, was Arthur, technically still Merlin, working on the fields. And not just that, he was also using magic to help things along. He looked happy.

Leon and Merlin shared a look, which consisted of a lot of confusion and a bit of amusement. Okay, a lot of amusement, though it might have mixed in on the feeling of being relieved to see that Arthur was indeed safe, and by the looks of it, not having too miserable of a time either.

The two continued closer to where Arthur was, and soon enough the dollophead noticed them. Arthur’s eyes widened when he first saw his two friends, but there soon appeared a blinding smile on his face.

He stopped what he was doing and hurried to greet the two. He was wearing Merlin’s usual clothes, just missing his jacket and neckerchief. He wouldn’t need those to keep him warm, working all day was enough. The sleeves of his red shirt were rolled up and he was sweaty.

It was a surprisingly warm afternoon. The sun had shone all day, though now some clouds had found their way to the sky and covered up most of it. There would still be a few hours before the sun would set.

“Merlin, Leon!” Arthur shouted happily upon seeing two of his friends whom he hadn’t seen in months. The two dismounted from their horses, Merlin giving the reins from his hand to Leon so he could go hug Arthur. He wouldn’t care if Arthur hated hugs for whatever reason he may have, he would go and wrap his arms around his friend.

Surprisingly enough though, Arthur opened his arms and welcomed Merlin in a warm hug. It was weird. Not just because Arthur never hugged anyone, but because they were in each other’s bodies so they were technically hugging themselves.  _ ‘How weird would it be if we kissed, we would be kind of kissing ourselves… Why am I even thinking that?’  _ Merlin thought as he hugged Arthur. Then he remembered his and Kilgharrah’s conversation from earlier about true love’s kiss being the only known way to break their curse.  _ ‘Thanks a lot Kilgharrah for your great advice!’  _ he said sarcastically in his mind as him and Arthur were pulling apart from their hug.  _ ‘And for attacking Camelot and killing innocent people,’  _ he added.

He gave Arthur an awkward smile, which the sorcerer happily returned with one of his own. “That was weird,” the brunette said and chuckled uncomfortably. “Yeah,” the blond agreed, then added, “It’s good to see you. You seem to be having a good time here, using my magic and all.” He smiled, less awkwardly this time. Arthur gave a laugh and replied, “Yeah. It’s not totally horrible.” He was smiling as well.

Leon joined their conversation, having tied their horses to who knows where so they wouldn’t run off. One thought now dawned on Arthur. “Wait! Does everyone in Camelot know you’re actually Merlin? Why are you here? Is everything alright?” well, maybe that was a bit more than just one thought. “No!” Merlin hurriedly answered. “The only ones who know are me, you, Morgana, Gwen, Leon and Gaius. And I would guess my mother knows as well?” he continued. “Yes, of course she knows,” Arthur told him with slight amusement in his tone.

\-----

“What?!” came Arthur’s worried question after hearing what had been happening in Camelot. They were sitting around the kitchen table in Hunith’s home, and after a heartfelt hug between mother and son and a few happy moments later, they had gotten to the conversation of why they were really even here.

“Camelot is being attacked by the great dragon,” Merlin repeated calmly. “I heard that, thank you Merlin,” Arthur declared sarcastically. “Then why’d you ask  _ ‘what’ _ ?” Merlin asked, amused, obviously just trying to get on Arthur’s nerves. And succeeding. Arthur looked at him with an expression of  _ ‘Are you kidding me?’  _ before turning to Leon, hoping to receive answers with less sarcasm and idiocy. Merlin just smiled, trying not to laugh.

“Yes, the kingdom is under attack and a man named Balinor, apparently a dragonlord, is our only hope,” Leon told Arthur. At the name Balinor, Hunith’s expression turned serious. No, it was serious before, now it was… worried? Shocked? Merlin looked at her mother and saw that she clearly recognized the name, of course Merlin knew why. He remembered the conversation he’d had with gaius just before he’d left camelot with leon.

_ “Who were the dragonlords? Gaius?” _

_ “There were once men who could talk to the dragons, tame them.” _

_ “What happened to them?” _

_ “Uther believed that the art of the dragonlord was too close to magic, so he had them all rounded up and slaughtered.” _

_ “But one survived. How did you know?” _

_ “I helped him escape.” _

_ “Gaius!” Merlin exclaimed, faking shock. He gave a laugh. _

_ “Merlin, you’ve never heard the name Balinor?” _

_ “No.” _

_ “Your mother never mentioned him?” _

_ “My mother?” _

_ “She took him in.” _

_ “She stood up against Uther?” _

_ “Yes” _

_ “She was brave.” _

_ “Yes. When Uther discovered where Balinor was, he sent knights to Ealdor to hunt him down. He was forced to flee.” _

_ “Why didn’t my mother tell me any of this?” _

_ “Merlin ,I promised her I would never speak of these things-” _

_ “Of what?” _

_ “I’ve always treated you as my son, but that is not what you are. The man you’re going to look for  _ **_is_ ** _ your father.” _

_ There was a pause. _

_ “My father?” Merlin looked to be on the verge of tears. _

_ “Yes.” Gaius’ answer was filled with a bit of sadness and regret. _

_ “He was a dragonlord? Why did no one ever tell me?!” _

_ “I wanted to. Your mother feared it’d be too dangerous.” _

_ “I had a right to know.” _

_ “She wanted to protect you.” _

_ “No. I had a right to know.” _

Hunith glanced at her son and realised from the sad expression on his face that he knew. She looked at him apologetically. Merlin gave her a sad little smile and nodded slightly, to show that he forgave her. Hunith returned the smile.

“Apparently the guy lives not far from here so we decided to stop by for a visit, but we must get going again before evening so we can find him as soon as possible, we can’t waste any time, not now when there’s a dragon attacking Camelot,” Leon finished his explaining and Arthur nodded in understanding. Neither seemed to have noticed the nonverbal conversation the two other residents of the table had had just seconds ago.

They all stood up to say goodbyes, but then Arthur spoke up with determination in his voice, “I’m coming with you.” He left no room for arguing as he continued talking. “I haven’t seen you two for ages and if you think I’m ready to say goodbye again so soon then you’re both fools. I can help you find this Balinor, then before crossing the border to Camelot I’ll return here.” Merlin and Leon had smiles on their faces, of course they would be happy to spend more time with Arthur.

So the three said their goodbyes to Hunith, both Merlin and Arthur giving her a hug, before they continued on their journey.

\-----

“Since when were you so close with my mother?” Merlin asked after a bit of travelling. Arthur glanced to his left, to Merlin, before answering, “She’s a good person, I like her. She took me in when I had nowhere else to go. We’ve lived in the same hut for months now, you tend to get close to a person under those circumstances.” Merlin looked at him, smiling a little. “I’m glad,” he said.

“You are?”

“Yeah. Means that two of the most important people in my life get along and are not alone. So yeah, I’m glad.”

Arthur blushed at Merlin’s words. He had no idea he was that important to merlin. Under the latest circumstances he wasn’t sure he was important to him at all.

Leon was smiling whilst listening to the two friends’ conversation. He couldn’t help but be amused, even though he had started to feel a bit like a third wheel.

Arthur was reminded of a thought he’d had about a week ago. It was about how he’d never met his mother, and how spending time with Hunith Made up for it just a tiny bit. He wondered if his mother had been as sweet and caring as hunith was. He couldn’t help but envy Merlin for having had such a wonderful mother when he’d grown up. He wondered if things would be much different if his mother had never died.

\-----

The three had found an inn where they’d rested for a night before continuing on their journey. There they had found information about Balinor. Apparently he lived in a cave nearby at the foot of the Feorre mountain, through the forest of Merendra.

The sky was covered by clouds and their surroundings were wet. It had rained all night long, and when they’d left early in the morning, drops of rain were still falling. They had ridden for nearly two hours when they stumbled upon a small stream.

They stopped to fill their waterskins, but when Leon squatted down by the water, he noticed the mouth of a cave, hidden behind the trees and bushes. He got up and notified the other two. “Arthur, Merlin,” he called them over and started walking to the cave, Merlin and Arthur following suit.

They walked in. Deeper in the cave it seemed as though someone lived there. In one corner there was something resembling a bed, in another there was a small table with a plate and white candles on top. In the middle there was a fireplace. It wasn’t lit at the moment, but next to it there was a wooden stool. There were a few possessions scattered around the place to make it look like a home rather than a cave.

They suddenly heard footsteps behind them and all three turned around to see a man. He had long, dark brown hair and a short beard which had started to turn gray. He wore clothes made out of leather, mostly brown coloured, worn and old.

“Who are you? Why are you here?” the stranger asked in a not so friendly voice. Arthur was the one who answered, “We are here looking for a man named Balinor. We were told he lived somewhere hereabouts.” The stranger looked between the three, seemingly contemplating something.

“He’s passed on,” he replied and moved past them to put down the firewood he had been gathering. “You knew him?” Merlin asked. “Who are you?” the stranger asked again strongly.

After a short silence, Merlin answered, “I’m Lancelot, I’m a knight. That’s Leon, another knight. And he’s Merlin, my servant.

“You are Arthur Pendragon. You’re Uther’s son. This is Cenred’s kingdom, he’s asking for trouble,” the man stated, clearly displeased.

Merlin looked shocked, and looked to Arthur for help on what to do next. Arthur didn’t look at Merlin though. He was concentrated on the man before them. “Actually…” he started talking and stepped forward a bit. “I’m Arthur. It’s sort of a long story…”

\-----

They were sitting around the fire which was now burning in the small fireplace in the middle of the cave. They had explained- well, everything. The man had finally revealed that he was Balinor, like it wasn’t obvious already. How many people lived in caves, and by the same mountain, when there were nice and peaceful villages around? The only thing that hadn’t come up was Merlin being Balinor’s son.

“Will you help us?” Leon asked hopefully after he’d told that the great dragon was attacking Camelot. “His name is Kilgharrah, he doesn’t act blindly. He kills for a reason, vengeance. This is of Uther’s making,” Balinor told them bitterly. “His killing innocent people, women and children,” Merlin tried telling him. “Uther pursued me! He hunted me like an animal!”

“I know-”

What do you know about anybody’s life, boy? Uther asked me to use my power to bring the last dragon to Camelot. He said he wanted to make peace with it, but he did not. He lied to me! He betrayed me! And you want me to protect this man?”

“I want you to protect Camelot.”

“He killed every one of my kind, I alone escaped!”

“Where did you go?”

There was a pause.

“There is a place called Ealdor.” That got Arthur’s and Leon’s eyes to widen in surprise, even more so when they realised that Merlin wasn’t the least bit surprised, but instead just nodding along.

“I had a life there. A woman,” Balinor continued sadly. “Ealdor is beyond Uther’s realm, but still he pursued me. Why would he not let me be? What was it that I had done that he wanted to destroy the life I’d built, abandon the woman I loved? He sent knights to kill me. I was forced to come here, to this.” He waved his hand around the home he’d made in the cave. “So… I understand how Kilgharrah feels. He’s lost every one of his kind, every one of his kin. You want to know how that feels? Look around, boy. Let Uther die. Let Camelot fall.”

“You want everyone in Camelot to die?”

“Why should I care?”

“What if one of them was your son?”

“I don’t have a son.” Leon and Arthur who had been listening to the two’s conversation intently, now glanced at each other. They seemed to have put the pieces together. Merlin was Balinor’s son.

“And if I told you…” Merlin paused for a second, then continued. “If I told you I was your son?” Balinor had got up and turned his back on the three already but now turned to look at Merlin again. “I don’t have a son,” he repeated, though with uncertainty. “The woman you loved, was her name Hunith?” Balinor didn’t answer but he obviously recognized the name. “She’s my mother. I’ve never met my father, but I’ve been told that his name was Balinor. Are you him or is there someone else around here that goes by that name?”

Balinor sat down again, looking at Merlin. He turned his gaze to look at Arthur instead, remembering what they’d said about the two switching bodies and all. After a bit, he looked at Merlin again and took a deep breath. “I’ll help you,” he said, then got up once more, turned his back and took his concentration elsewhere.

\-----

The four travellers had been slowly heading towards Camelot. Why they were travelling slowly had two reasons. One: they only had three horses which meant that, naturally, Merlin and Arthur had been riding on the same horse, with Merlin on the back with his arms wrapped tightly around Arthur so he wouldn’t fall off the horse. And two: they didn’t want to part from Arthur just yet. Okay, Merlin didn’t want to. Balinor didn’t really care where Arthur was, and Leon? Well, he would’ve survived without having to feel so awkward riding next to the two blushing idiots.

They stopped at a tavern close to the border of Cenred’s kingdom. The night was closing in and the gray clouds which hadn’t cleared but only darkened, were making the night even colder and darker than it usually was. For the fear that a storm may be coming, they were going to spend the night in the tavern.

They sat at a table, as far from the middle as possible. The place was quite full and smelled like alcohol. The people were loud, talking and laughing, almost yelling. Arthur ordered drinks for the four of them and they silently sat and drank, just minding their own business.

There was one particularly loud man. He was in the middle of the tavern, in the middle of everyone’s attention. He had very thick brown hair that just reached his shoulders, a stubble beard, and a very loud voice as he told drunken stories and nearly started a bar fight more than once. The man was around Merlin and Arthur’s age and seemed to be very, very drunk.

\-----

As the night went on the louder it had gotten, more drinks had been drunk, more stories had been told by the handsome stranger who had moved from sitting on a bench like everyone else to sitting on a table, and the more awkward it had gotten for the three men sitting by the only quiet table in the far corner of the lively tavern. Wait-, three?

“Where the hell is Merlin?” Arthur broke their awkward silence when he noticed that the blond man had disappeared somewhere. So typical of Merlin. No I don’t mean the blond hair, that is quite new and difficult to get used to, just the disappearing to who knows where.

They all started looking around. And there he was, in the middle of the tavern, chatting cheerily with the loud man as though they were old friends. Arthur looked at them incredulously, while the rest of their small group just returned tiredly to their drinks.

“I think someone’s got their eye on you,” the stranger told Merlin quite suggestively, pointing to the raven-haired man watching them. “Oh, no. That’s just Arthur,” Merlin told him and giggled a bit. “Come on, I’ll introduce you,” he grabbed the stranger's, Gwaine’s wrist and pulled him with him away from the drunken crowd around them. Instantly the loud chatter died down by half.

\-----

There wasn’t an inn at the tavern or anywhere near, and there was indeed a storm raging outside, so they didn’t get much sleep that night though they were thankful for the shelter. After Merlin had introduced Gwaine to the others they’d chatted all night long. Even Balinor seemed to like the guy. Arthur though, for some reason, didn’t seem to get along with him that great.

It was little after noon when the storm had finally subsided and the clouds gave way for the sun once more. That’s when the group of five very tired and possibly quite drunken men had decided to finally depart from the smell of alcohol and sweat and whatnot, and leave the tavern behind.

They were nearly to the border of Camelot when they decided to say goodbyes to Arthur. It was a sad moment really, consisting of a heartfelt goodbye hug between Merlin and Arthur, a few glares from Arthur towards Gwaine, confused looks between Merlin and Gwaine, and finally, a lot of awkward tension from Balinor and Leon who were standing aside and watching the trio in a silence that lasted for about a minute before Arthur finally gave a sad sigh, mounted his horse and said his final goodbyes whilst looking Merlin longingly in the eyes, then turning around to leave and ride away towards Ealdor once again.

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued...🤨🤔😛


End file.
